Beyond
by harmonemmy
Summary: Sora and Riku have nothing to do but talk in the place beyond the World that Never Was.  RikuxSora


Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Rated: T for sexuality

Beyond

Sora and Riku had nothing to do in the place beyond The World that Never Was, so they talked. They talked about Sora's journeys before Organization XIII, about Goofy and Donald, about Leon and the Traverse Town crew. What Riku had done during his time away from friends, why he had chosen darkness, how he possibly could have survived anything with a "freaking blindfold on."

Eventually, things shifted to lighter topics. They reminisced about their childhoods on Destiny Island, and whether they would ever be able to go back. They talked about the races and fights, about the rivalry over Kairi. For hours they talked, in that place that never changed.

As time went on, they ran out of things to talk about. There's only so many times Riku was willing to talk about the first time Sora beat him, as amazing as it was. So, the talk turned to feelings. Riku ventured first.

"Hey Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of me?"

"Huh? You mean, as a person or in relation to what you've done?"

"Both." Riku began to play with the sand.

"Well, right now, I'm just glad you're you." Sora glanced at Riku, remembering the frightening orange eyes and dark skin, then looked back at the moon.

"Oh. So you're not mad?" He didn't look at Sora.

"You made a mistake, Riku. Granted, it's possibly the biggest mistake you could have possibly ever made and I don't understand it, but it's all okay now." Sora gestured to the area the portal had thrown them from. "The whole universe is exactly the way it was before."

"That's nice to know. I thought you might've still hated me." The design's he was drawing in the sand were convoluted and dizzying, becoming more detailed with each moment.

"You did whatever you could to find Kairi. Hey, it worked. You got to her before me." They each decided not to mention that Kairi had almost lost her heart for Riku's treachery.

"But you know, I did hate you. For awhile back there I had to."

"You had to hate your best friend." Riku finally looked at Sora. He felt vaguely guilty, that Sora couldn't even outright hate him, after all that he'd done.

"How else could I kick your ass so thoroughly? I can't battle for the sake of the universe with my best friend. It would be too complicated. I would have had worries about hurting you." Sora grinned, and bumped into Riku, almost knocking him over. "Damn good thing too. You were a hard beat." Even Riku had to smile at that.

"Damn straight pipsqueak. You were an easy lose."

"What?"

"Heh. Nothing."

"You know, I don't get why everyone thinks I'm stupid. I'm really not. I'm not a genius or anything, but I'm not a retard. I say "What?" and everyone goes, "You wouldn't understand Sora. It's kind of a big concept" and I'm left standing like an idiot saying "I didn't freaking hear you, you dumbass."

"Whoa there. Calm down."

"Why? I want to know."

"I guess it's because you're always posing."

"As what!"

"The hero, I guess. You're always going on about loyalty and stuff, and you're so single minded about it that it makes you seem dumb." Riku said all of this as if his thoughts were on something else. Sora vaguely registered his friends inattention.

"That makes sense. But you know, there's also the times when people only say part of what's going on, so it's like missing the cover of a puzzle!"

"Information, but no way to organize it." Riku knew what he meant.

"Exactly!" Sora was so excited that Riku understood him that he had started kneeling and gesturing. "That is why you are my best friend! You always know what I'm talking about." He launched himself toward Riku, enveloping him in a hug with a force that brought them to the ground. "It's awesome that being away from me for so long, you still know me so well.

"Do I?" Riku muttered.

"Didn't catch that…" Sora waited to see what Riku had to say.

"Get off me." Sora re-launched himself away from Riku. "Can't say so much for this end though" Riku was slightly out of it again.

"Hilarious." Sora noticed Riku's state of zoned out-ness. "You alright?" He crawled back towards Riku, who looked him in the face with a slightly curious expression.

"Yeah, mostly." Riku leaned in towards Sora, who was sitting slightly over a foot away, almost in between Riku's feet. "I'm kinda cold."

"Me too, now that I think about it. Not to invade you personal space, or anything, but maybe we could, um, sit. Together." Sora had turned a slightly pinker tan than was usual, but the eternal after-twilight hid it. Riku chuckled and leaned back on his hands.

"Not quite that cold. In an hour or two though, I'll probably welcome the heat." He would have liked to be that close to Sora right then, but he wasn't cold. And, as had been pointed out, Sora was indeed not that stupid.

"Hey Sora, can you keep a secret?" The older boy seemed apprehensive almost.

"Depends on how funny it is. Why?" Sora wondered what was so important to Riku that it would have to be a secret.

"Well, I never really…" Riku hesitated, and changed his mind.

"Never really… what?" prompted the younger boy. Riku saw that he would have to come up with something other than what he had been about to say.

"I never really thought I was better than you." This was almost as taxing.

"No one could possibly act that stuck up. You are kind of an A-list jerk." Sora was blunt.

"That's not what I meant!" Riku glared at Sora, his body tense. "There's a difference between confidence and being a jerk. I knew that I could beat you, but that's just because I'm older. I can read you easier. It's easier for me to figure out what you're going to do. If you were my age, I would have lost every time." Riku sent out waves of disbelief, as if he still hadn't quite come to terms with this fact yet. After Sora's initial shock, he had similar vibes of disbelief.

"Really?" Sora's voice was soft, and he looked at Riku with similarly soft eyes. Riku could not take those blue eyes, and looked at his right knee.

"Yeah." He crossed his arms, and rested them on his legs.

"That's… That's really sweet." All of a sudden, Sora could not look at Riku either.

Riku grinned and laughed, saying, "You sound like a girl."

"Well you look like one," was the quick response.

"Touché," It was nice having someone to relate to after almost two years.

"You know it. Does it feel late to you?" It was impossible to tell exactly how long they had been there, and what time it would have been normally.

"I'm getting a bit tired, yeah. Want to go to sleep?" Riku had a brilliant idea forming in his head.

"Not particularly." Riku's plan would have to wait until they went to sleep. "I was just wondering. I mean, there isn't really anything left to talk about. Or if there is, we should save it for, later I guess. Since there's really no tomorrow." The moon had stayed exactly where it was in all the hours that they had been there. "We should leave ourselves something to do other than spar and look for food."

"There isn't any." Riku had begun to feel guilty again.

"Food? How would you know?" Riku got up, and turned away from his friend, looking at the strange rocks surrounding the lagoon.

"I've been here. Whenever organization members had something secret to do, they came here. If any of them survived, there might be a chance of being rescued but I doubt it. You're pretty thorough when it comes to enemies." Here, Riku grimaced in remembrance of an aftermath of a battle with Sora. No corpses even, just dozens of small hearts, floating into the sky. "I came once to get away from the whole Evil Organization deal, and looked around. It's a wasteland Sora. Not even any fresh water. I spent hours looking for any sign of life, and there isn't any. Not even in the sea! No fish to catch, no seaweed, not even any algae! It's just as, as barren as the sand we're sitting on!" Standing there, shoulders hunched, Riku looked pitiful. Sora noticed that Riku was shaking slightly, and realized that Riku was crying.

"Riku, it's okay-"

"It's not okay!" Riku whirled around and spread his arms. "We're going to die here!" Sora could see the shimmering tears on Riku's face in the moonlight. "We're going to die, and it's my fault. I got Kairi's heart stolen, I kept you from doing all these things you had to do! I didn't even stall Organization XIII, and I was a member! I could have at least told you how to slow down the fake Kingdom Hearts, but I didn't-" Suddenly Sora was up and hugging Riku. Riku felt weak from his outburst, and Sora's hug wasn't helping.

"I'm sorry Sora. For being such a failure." He stood there limply encased in the hug, staring at the top of Sora's head, not reciprocating the embrace for fear of breaking down in tears once again. Sora pulled away, and placed his hands on Riku's cheeks, wiping away the tears. Riku was so shocked that he didn't feel anything but his heart thumping, and the blood surging in his ears. Riku felt his mouth dry, and face flush, and when Sora turned his face up towards Riku, he saw that Sora's face had a similar looking tint. When Sora moved his hands to the back of his neck, and pulled their faces together, Riku's brain shut down.

"Then I'm glad I'm dieing with you Riku. If I have to die, I'm glad it's with you." And Sora pulled Riku down that last inch into a kiss. The heat from that kiss jumpstarted Riku, and he wrapped his arms around the younger boy, deepening their kiss. Eventually, Sora softly broke away.

"Riku, can you keep a secret?" He whispered, and looked into Riku's strange teal eyes, still wrapped by his embrace.

"Yes," Riku rasped back, looking into Sora's clear blue ones, hopeful about the next words to spill from his loves beautiful mouth.

"I love you." And as these words were finished, they both leaned into each other for another kiss. When they finally broke apart, they were both beyond words. They sat, and Sora yawned. Riku lied down, gesturing for Sora to use his torso as a pillow. Sora complied, and fell asleep quickly. He slept silently, and with a small smile on his face. Riku stayed awake while longer, playing with Sora's hair, a smile also on his face. He was beyond happy. It was a warm calm emanating from his soul. He was content with himself, knowing that Sora had nothing against him, that all wrongs had been made right. He fell asleep, satisfied.

When they woke up several hours later, Riku noticed a bottle floating by his feet in the water. It was a letter in a bottle that Kairi had written. He gave it to Sora, who began to read it out loud. "Thinking of you, wherever you are…" When he had finished reading it, a soft, bright white light appeared over the ocean. They walked through to a familiar, sunny beach, and a teenage girl standing by the waves.


End file.
